Should I Give My Employee A Raise?

Should I Give My Employee A Raise?

Chances are that you may have contemplated this extremely important question as a business owner:

Should I give my employee a raise?

In today’s blog post, I’m going to share with you some specific guidelines that can assist you in coming to your own decision when it comes to your personal team.

With that in mind, let’s move forward, o.k.?

Before You Hand Out Your Next Raise, Please Consider This…

To find out if your employee is “raise worthy”, take a few moments to evaluate your employee by asking yourself the following questions:

Question #1: Is My Employee A “REAL TALENT” Or Are They Simply Collecting Their Paycheck?

Giving your employee a raise is something that has an effect on both your business and the employee receiving the pay increase. If your employee is a contributor and not simply collecting a paycheck, do consider giving this rock star a raise.

When it comes to employees and accountability, I believe that there are 3 different types of employees.

A) The employees who are accountable, do what they say, say what they do, and instinctively have the gift of auto-correcting their own problems as well as their co-workers with ease and accuracy.

B) The employees who are clueless, have no idea how to work independently, and never take responsibility for their actions

C) The employees who are growing, learning how to work independently, and who have an open ear to solutions to make the responsibilities of their co-workers and themselves run more efficiently.

At the point of evaluation, employees who fall into category A are stand outs and should be considered for a raise. If you have a surplus of funds, and you notice that employees who fall into category c are really making leaps and bounds, consider a small raise to encourage them for their effort.

Question #3: Does My Employee Have A Desire To Grow With My Organization?

One of the best questions you can ask yourself to determine if your employee is “raise worthy” is question #3. Truthfully – if your employee has a real desire to grow, and is demonstrating this with their actions, then I would highly advise you to consider giving this person a raise. Their actions demonstrate that they value your company, so consider rewarding them by showing them that you too value them by giving them a raise..

Question #4: How Long Has My Employee Been With My Organization and How Much Have They Contributed During This Time?

Length of time, and contribution are two big indicators of how seriously your employee takes their job. If over time they clearly demonstrate that they consistently contribute, then consider giving them a reward. I am not one to suggest giving any employee a raise for mediocrity just because that have been with a company for a long period of time and are good at collecting a pay check. If you do, that’s fine but know that’s your decision to reward poor performance, not mine. If you keep your standards high, the performances that necessitate the need for a raise will follow.

Question #5: How Does This Employee Rank Compared To The Rest OF The Team?

When giving raises, keep in mind that the salaries of everyone on the team, and the profitability of the business are all at stake. I am not pointing this out to you from a position of scarcity, rather I am emphasizing this fact so that you are keenly AWARE that who you reward affects everyone. With this in mind, reward the biggest producers first and use this as a motivational tool for the rest of the group.

Question #6: When Should I Give My Employee A Raise?

This question is a question that truthfully is completely up to you. You can give raises annually, twice a year, quarterly, or how ever you see fit. The key to this is that your employees must deserve the raise. I said it once and I’ll say it again, if you keep the bar high, the serious team members will rise to the occasion.

Question #7: Can I Afford To Give My Employees A Raise?

If your employee is an absolute master of their craft, my question to you would be:

“Can I Afford Not To Give My Employee A Raise?”

For anyone who does not fit this criteria, take the time to really consider the questions that I’ve shared with you today because not everyone is raise worthy. As always, take the time to evaluate your finances when distributing raises to team players.

If for whatever reason you discover that multiple employees deserve a raise, but it’s just not in your budget consider rewarding them in a different way with the strategies that I shared in the blog post called:

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About the Author

Michael James is a strategical visionary who is dedicated to helping serious entrepreneurs create powerful marketing campaigns that create customers for life, maximize r.o.i., and positively impact the world.